THE HONOURS BOARD

by Pamela Hansford Johnson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 21, 1970

With much less of the beady observation and jaggedly satiric discomfiture which have predominated in most of Pamela Hansford Johnson's novels, this returns to the academic scene in a second-rate boys' public school in England, Downs Park. Recognition has escaped it altogether and its Honours Board lists only dim boys going on to dim schools. The institution is headmastered by Cyril Annick who, with his wife Grace, offers a great deal of understanding to their young charges. Now however for the first time they have a promising boy, Quillan, who might make Eton, and the book proceeds towards that triumph. In between, randomly pursued, there are the encysted rivalries and hostilities among the staff: a little adultery here, drunkenness there, and the uncertain romance of the Annicks' daughter. Miss Johnson relies too much on occasional scenes and offhand remarks and certainly the boy Quillan invites more attention than he is given. The last two major scenes--Quillan's examinations undertaken during a bout of flu and Mrs. Annick's death--achieve duress and pathos respectively but before then, one suspects that Miss Johnson has temporized with her gifts or is it perhaps that the lack of distinction at Downs Park just promotes an aura of underachievement?

Pub Date: Sept. 21, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1970

Categories: FICTION